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Carib Gold Highlights Carribean Arts and Culture in 2012â€

Carib Gold Production Team, which is an organization which plans to produce a plethora of events displaying Carribean arts and culture such as concerts, a gala, and even a youth summit.

[Helese TALKS!]

Let me just start by saying that at this time in my life, besides writing rants, covering non-profit news is one of the most exciting, exhilarating, and fulfilling work that I do. So if you have any news about non profits, good or bad, please email me and I’ll see about covering it. Yay! Now on to the story:

A promising collaboration between two arts organizations, the A’vitar Foundation & A Fe We Culture has birthed a new venture, Carib Gold Production Team, which is an organization which plans to produce a plethora of events displaying Carribean arts and culture such as concerts, a gala, and even a youth summit.

But why? What Carib Gold plans to do is foster an environment of inclusion and multiculturalism amongst Carribean people and the rest of the world. Through arts and culture, they want to spread awareness of the culture and some serious issues that face Carribean people and create a platform for artists to show their talent. They will focus on youth development:

in particular children with special needs. “We want to give a voice to children who have no voice, says Antoinette Pitcan, the Artistic Director of A Fe We Culture, Inc, a non profit “dedicated to the retention of Carribean Arts and Culture.” She is the Executive Producer of Carib Gold along with Dillard Boone who is the Chairman of the A’vitar Foundation an organization that highlights the “rights, roots, and rituals” of multi cultural communities through the arts.

So, the collaboration is perfect for the mission Carib Gold seeks to accomplish.

Pitcan tells me there are more Carribean children in the U.S. than in the Carribean, and so it’s important to start right here at home when advocating for Carribean children with special needs. Plus, it’s illegal for a non profit in the U.S. to raise money and sent it overseas. You would have to be an international organization to do that. But, they can work with other NGO’s to do so. It’s a good thing, because in third world countries like the Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, there is no public funding for programs for the needy. And Pitcan tells me there is an even deeper problem, in the Carribean children with special needs are ignored, and people pretend like they don’t exist at all.

The founders of Carib Gold are attempting to right some of the wrongs permeating the system that affect Carribean youth. Through their respective organizations, they work with first generation as well as other Carribean youth as they try to assimilate into American culture. A Fe We Culture works within the New York City school system, who Pitcan says is insensitive to Carribean children who are new to the US; the child may speak English but it’s a very different dialect. A’Vitar Foundation has a program to train children to help them integrate into the workforce and this will help diversify their career options when it’s time for them to graduate from high school and college.

Through the presenting of the art and soul of the Caribbean, Carib Gold will give a spotlight to the varied ethnic groups in the Carribean, and a create more opportunities for artists to do great things, and for various cultures around the world to interact with one another throughout 2012, while letting people know what the issues are, and hopefully they can get involved. “I think it gives you a whole new spin on the word ‘Kumbaya’,” Pitcan says jokingly. But she’s right. Like Boone said, "The power lies in our creativity." I can’t wait to see what the year unfolds.

Carib Gold’s launch event will be held on April 4th at City College, Theatre B, in New York City.